Home
by Little Miss Bovver
Summary: Kelly returns after going away for a while, with a little boy. Charlie is Nathan's son. Together, the two have to learn to accept each other for who they are. Can they make it work, or is this all just a lost cause? AU, set after S1. rated m later
1. Part One

**Title**: Home  
**Rating:** This part; PG-15  
**Characters: **Nathan, Kelly, Nathan's mum, Kelly's mum, OC  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own and never will. Written for my own enjoyment  
**Summary:** _Kelly returns after going away for a while, with a little boy. Charlie is Nathan's son. Together, the two have to learn to accept each other for who they are. Can they make it work, or is this all just a lost cause?  
_**A/N:**_ Well, I can't remember if Nathan's mum was named so she is now Brenda. And Kelly was always just Kelly B, so she is now Kelly Byrne. Unbeta'd, but read through and edited by me, so one or two grammar mistakes may have slipped through. I'm trying to keep it as IC as possible. _

Home

Part one.

Kelly was standing in the hallway, body still. For a moment, Nathan was sure she would bolt, run towards the door and disappear out of his life once again. His eyes met hers and they were the brightest blue he remembered.

His eyes fell to the child in her arms; blonde hair, green eyes. Nathan frowned and noticed Kelly flinch as she listened to his thoughts.

_Shit. A kid. Where'd she get that from? Oh. I wonder whose it is._

If only he knew, she thought bitterly, averting her gaze for a moment. It remained silent in the hallway as their eyes met once again and all they could do was stare.

'Well, who is it, Nathan?' came the sound of his mum's voice as she stepped in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel. She blanched as she caught sight of Kelly in the hallway, blinked and then glanced at her son. Brenda Young had never expected to see the day when Kelly Byrne would arrive back into their lives. Truthfully, the only woman had grown very fond of Kelly over the months she'd dated Nathan and had been surprised at her sudden desire to just leave. Brenda braved a smile. 'Well, put the kettle on, Nathan. Don't just stand there gawping.'

Brenda shooed Nathan into the kitchen and smiled at Kelly again. Kelly managed a smile back, following the older woman out of the hallway.

Nathan leaned against the counter, arms folded across his chest and Kelly could tell by his thoughts that he was still in a state of shock. Not angry, yet, but not overly happy either. But, what had she expected? For him to welcome her back with open arms without being mad at the fact that she'd left without a real reason.

What could she have said? _I'm sorry, Nathan, but I'm pregnant and I'm going away to get rid of it. _

It should have been simple.

If she hadn't fallen in love the moment she set eyes on the wailing infant. Now, she couldn't bear being away from her son for more than five minutes.

Nathan was still staring at the boy, but it hadn't clicked. Kelly waited patiently.

'What's his name?' Nathan finally spoke up.

'Charlie,' she said. Nathan fell quiet again, a frown creasing his brow. The kettle boiled beside him and he distracted himself by making up three cups of tea. _Maybe it's Simon's. Or some chav on an estate. I could break their legs for her._

Kelly bit back a smile, but felt her heart surge at the same time. That was part of the reason she loved him, even after all this time. He was reckless, but he had a good heart really. Yeah, he was a dick and he acted like he didn't give a fuck about anything or anybody, but he'd loved her and that's all she'd needed.

'How long have you been back?' Brenda asked. Kelly looked up; Charlie was sat on her lap, playing with a placemat on the table, seeming amazed at the small square object.

'Two or three days,' Kelly replied with a shrug. 'Just got back on Thursday. Had to go shopping with my mum though.'

'Buy anything nice?' Brenda asked.

'Mum, can we have a minute?' Nathan suddenly piped up. Brenda nodded, getting to her feet.

'I'll be in the living room if you need me,' she said, taking her cup of tea and leaving the kitchen door partly open when she left; Kelly guessed she wanted to listen in. Nathan seemed to think so too and moved, shutting the door. He turned, looking at her again.

'Four years. You've been gone four years.'

'Nearly,' she shrugged. 'Charlie isn't four yet.'

'Why did you leave?' he asked and his voice held his emotion well. Too well. Kelly could tell he was guarded; shoulders bunched defensively as if warding off an attack, body angled away from her.

'Isn't it obvious?' she replied, looking down at the top of Charlie's head. 'I fell pregnant. I ... freaked out, I ran. Nathan.' Kelly looked up and her blue eyes were watery. 'Nathan, you're a dad.'

In the living room, a cup smashed on the laminate.

* * *

'Did you see 'im, then?' Janet Byrne asked her daughter later that night, standing in the bedroom doorway as Kelly dressed Charlie for bed. She pulled a Bob the Builder top over his head, before pulling up his blue pyjama bottoms.

'Yeah.'

'How did it go? Here, let me.' She reached into the bag for Charlie's dummy. The boy took it and sucked it into his mouth.

'It was fine,' Kelly snapped, rubbing her eyes wearily.

'Does he know-?'

'Mum, will you stop fussing and give me five minutes. Fuck.'

Janet nodded, patting Kelly's shoulder. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

'Whatever.'

Janet left, shutting the door behind her and leaving Kelly to sink on the bed with a soft sigh. Charlie leaned against her, hitting her knee with the flat of his small palm. 'Bed, mummy,' he said, looking up.

'Yeah, bedtime now.'

'And play out tomorrow, yeah?'

Kelly smiled and she lifted Charlie up onto the bed beside her. She cuddled him against his side. 'Yeah, tomorrow we can play out.' She paused for a moment. 'Charlie, you know the man we saw today?'

'Yeah?' Charlie looked up at her.

'You know he's your daddy?'

Charlie was quiet for a moment, before shrugging. 'He didn't seem like a daddy,' the four year old replied. Kelly laughed, despite herself.

'No, he didn't, did he?'

'Will we see him tomorrow?' Charlie asked. Kelly shrugged.

'Maybe.'

The boy stood up, clambering over the duvet to sit on the pillow. He snuggled down into the covers and stretched. 'Come on, mummy,' he smiled, patting the bed. Kelly kicked off her shoes and pulled herself into bed.

'We'll go to the park in the morning,' she told him, as Charlie snuggled up into her side. 'Night, baby boy.'

'Night night.'


	2. Part Two

Home

Part two.

Nathan watched Kelly from where he stood at the edge of the play park. She was knelt on the floor in front of the slide, encouraging the small boy- his _son_- to slide down. Charlie was grinning, gripping onto the sides of the slide. Then, he pushed himself down and went sailing to the bottom, into Kelly's arms. She laughed, lifting him up and hugging him to her chest.

There was a smile on her face that Nathan hadn't seen in a long, long time. Kelly looked up and their eyes met and he felt his heart jerk in his chest, breath catching in his throat. It took a moment before he could force his feet to move forward, striding across the grass towards her.

'You came,' Kelly said, her accent still as strong as ever and his lips threatened to turn up at the corners. He shouldn't laugh. She might hit him.

Instead, Nathan distracted himself by sliding a cigarette out the packet and slipping the end in his mouth. He offered one to Kelly, but she shook her head. 'I don't smoke anymore,' she told him.

Charlie was staring at him. Nathan glanced at the boy, realizing with a jolt that the boy had his eyes; a mix of moss green and hazel. The more Nathan stared, the more of himself he saw in little Charlie, so he focused back on Kelly.

'Do you want to sit down?' he asked, gesturing to a damp park bench to their left. Fuck, this was awkward. And weird. So weird. Kelly nodded and they moved, sitting down with Charlie snuggled in between them. Nathan still couldn't get his head around the fact that he was a dad. He was a dad, he was the father to this boy, to Charlie. He'd made babies with Kelly.

Nathan sniggered. Kelly flashed a look up at him. 'What's so funny?' she demanded.

'I'm still trying to get used to this,' Nathan shrugged, the laughter dying from his lips. He sighed and then looked back at Charlie. Moving, he knelt down in front of the boy. Charlie looked back at him, cautiously. Nathan gave a friendly smile and then reached up, pulling a pound coin out from behind his ear.

Charlie grinned brightly and took the offered pound coin. 'What do you say?' Kelly nudged Charlie.

'Thank you,' he smiled, looking down at the coin. Nathan grinned. 'Can we go to the shop?'

'Sure thing. If that's okay with your ma?' Calling Kelly a mother was weird too. He thought was brain would explode if he wasn't too careful. It was as if he'd fallen into another dimension. Surely, none of this was real?

'That's fine.' Kelly nodded and taking Charlie's hand, led the little boy from the park. After a moment, she stopped and turned, looking at Nathan. 'Are you coming?' she asked, impatiently. Nathan smiled.

'I'm coming.'

* * *

Nathan and Kelly sat in the small kitchen in Kelly's mum's flat, clutching steaming cups of tea between their hands. In the living room, they could see Charlie sat, cross-legged on the rug, chewing his sweets with Keith laying his big head on the boy's lap.

_C'mon. Drop a sweetie. C'mon. C'mon, just drop one._ Kelly smiled as she listened to the dog's thoughts, Keith's big brown eyes focused on the sweet bag in Charlie's hand.

'Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?' Kelly looked up, the smile fading instantly. Nathan was staring intently at her.

'I freaked out,' she muttered, annoyance evident in her tone. She didn't want to talk about this, she didn't want to bring up the past-

'So you ran?' There was a crease in his brow, frowning, as if trying to work out a difficult mathematic equation.

'I didn't know what else to do,' Kelly snapped. 'I didn't think it would matter to you.'

'It always would have mattered to me,' Nathan growled, fists curling into balls on the tabletop. 'You were my girlfriend. What did you think I would do? Laugh in your face? Kick you out?'

'You were never one for responsibility, Nathan. You took the piss out of everything, everything was a big joke to you.'

'Pregnancy isn't a joke.'

Kelly slammed away from the table, running a hand through her hair as she paced. 'I was scared, Nathan. Scared that you'd reject me, reject the baby.'

'You should have told me instead of waiting for four years. All this time I've had a son and I haven't even known about it? Yeah, I took the piss, but… but I had a right to know!'

'Mummy?' Charlie stood in the doorway. Behind him stood Keith, standing guard. Kelly forced a smile.

'Yeah, baby?'

'Why are you mad?' he asked, rushing forward into her legs. Kelly knelt down, brushing his cheek with a smile.

'Me and … Nathan are just messing around. We're only playing.'

_If only things are that easy_, she heard Nathan think sourly. She ignored it. 'Go back and play. Dinner will be ready soon.' She straightened up, watching Charlie rush out.

'You're not much of a chav anymore,' Nathan said, breaking the silence. Kelly turned to him.

'Some of us were forced to grow up.'

'You never gave me a chance,' Nathan shrugged.

'Maybe that was for the best,' Kelly replied. She turned away, turning the oven on to start cooking Charlie's dinner. Nathan sighed, running a hand over his face.

'Look, can I see you tomorrow? And Charlie? Please,' he asked. Kelly hesitated and then turned to face him. She nodded.

'I'd like you to know Charlie a little better,' she agreed, seeming suddenly quiet and withdrawn. Nathan moved towards her, pulling her into his chest and Kelly went without protest, squeezing him tight.

'I'm sorry,' he murmured, kissing the top of her head. Then, he turned and left.


End file.
